You’ve got to have great greens or they won’t come to play. That’s why the most critical improvement that we’re doing is to the greens.
HARLINGEN — After more than a year of setbacks, the long-planned project to transform the Tony Butler Golf Course will cost about $2 million more to finance.
Now, the materials’ costs jump caused by the supply chain crisis of the coronavirus pandemic is pushing city officials to tap the Harlingen Community Improvement Board’s $2 million budget to stack onto a $2.6 million nest egg set aside to fund the project aimed at renovating the city’s iconic 94-year-old 18-hole golf course.
During a meeting, members of the board, funded through a one-eighth-cent sales tax earmarked to finance quality of life projects, voted 4-3 to pull the money out of their budget, cutting deep into its reserves.
“If we do fund this project, it’s going to pretty much hold our projects for at least a year,” City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez told officials during the March 30 meeting.
On Tuesday, Jeff Hart, the golf course’s general manager, said officials haven’t set a timetable for the eight- to nine-month project during which they plan to shut down the 18-hole course, leaving open the nine-hole short course.
Supply chain impact
For the second time in 18 months, the supply chain crisis’ materials’ cost escalations have driven the project’s construction bids over budget.
In January, officials received a lone bid of $4.7 million, climbing over the project’s budget, which had dropped from $3.1 million to about $2.6 million after officials pulled money to fund two golf course upgrades during the last year.
In April 2021, officials delayed the big project to request new construction bids after city commissioners rejected a lone $6.3 million bid, more than double the project’s $3.1 million budget amid soaring costs stemming from the supply chain crisis.
14-mile-long irrigation system
Since last year, Houston-based golf course architect Jeffrey D. Blume, whom the past commission hired for $217,000 to design the project, has worked to cut costs without paring down his vision to transform the golf course.
After months of work, officials revamped the proposed irrigation system, the overall project’s cornerstone, to replace a 40-year-old network of leaking PVC piping.
On the drawing board, Blume trimmed the number of irrigating sprinkler heads from 1,250 to 830, Hart said, adding each unit costs about $2,500.
“We’re just not going to water the areas of deep rough,” he said during an interview. “Those are areas a long way from the fairways.”
The proposed irrigation system calls for about 14 miles of underground, high-density polyethylene piping ranging in dimensions from two to 16 inches, including 10 miles of 2-inch pipe, officials said.
Meanwhile, a computerized central control system will operate the irrigation system.
Expanding sand-based greens
Much of the project is aimed at transforming the golf courses’ greens, expanding them from about 3,000 to 6,000 square feet while installing a sand base, Hart said, adding the old course’s greens are clay-based.
“You’ve got to have great greens or they won’t come to play,” Assistant City Manager Craig Cook told officials during last week’s meeting, referring to golfers. “That’s why the most critical improvement that we’re doing is to the greens.”
Meanwhile, officials are planning to boost the number of tee boxes from about three to five, Hart said.
As part of the project, he said, they’re also planning to expand the course’s water features.
Reaching break-even point
This year could mark the big turn-around for the golf course, which has been losing revenue for more than 10 years.
During last week’s meeting, Hart told officials he’s projecting the course will break even for first time since 2011.
“This year, currently we are on track to hit the $1 million in revenue mark, which is the break-even point,” Hart told officials.
Last year, the golf course drove in $897,000, while running up $1 million in expenses, he said.
